Wednesday, July 18, 2007

July 16, 2007 - Ahe

Today we headed back across the lagoon to the pass in our dinghy. We each did two drift snorkels through the pass on the incoming tide. While one of us snorkeled, the other hovered nearby in the dinghy to pull the swimmer out before we reached the turbulence caused by the current hitting the wind chop at that inside of the pass. It was cool. Really cool. We moved though the pass at about 5 knots. It felt like we were flying over the seabed below. The water was crystal clear - like gin. The coral growth was really healthy and colorful. There were lots of pretty fish. And . . . we saw barracuda, nurse sharks and a black tipped reef shark. Wicked cool.


We also snorkeled on the wreck of the sailboat that sank when it dragged into a field of bommies a few weeks ago. It was really creepy. Here was a 50+ foot sailboat, with twin engines and a 3 spreader rig, on its side against a reef. The deck had already been stripped of all the running rigging, sails, instruments, dodger, and safety equipment. The seabed had personal items strewn around - a teapot, a sweater, some pillows and some manuals. Neither of us was interested in diving inside to see what was left down below. The whole scene oozed bad juju. It is a comfort to know that the couple aboard got off without injury. Still, it is so sad to see someone's dreams dashed like that.






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